Unnatural Births

Assisted Reproductive Technologies & Their Side Effects

In 2006, Angela Collins and Margaret Elizabeth Hanson, a lesbian couple from Port Hope, Ontario, wanted to have a family. They selected a donor identified as possessing an IQ of 160, a bachelor of science in neuroscience, a master's degree in artificial intelligence, and who was working on his Ph.D. in neuroscience engineering. He had also been described as an eloquent speaker and mature beyond his years. They bought his sperm from Georgia-based Xytex Corporation, and Collins gave birth to a son on July 19, 2007.

One month before the boy's seventh birthday, the women learned that his biological progenitor, "Donor 9623," was none of the things...